Who?
by CUDDYownsPPTH
Summary: Cuddy thinks that House is playing a prank on her but is he really? Cuddy/10th Doctor friendship & Huddy romance
1. Chapter 1

**Hello my dear readers!**

**Here it is! The first chapter of my Cuddy/10th Doctor crossover :D**  
**I started watching Doctor Who about 3 months ago and I totally fell in love with the 10th doctor. So I decided to take my fave medical Doctor and my fave Alien Doctor and write a fanfic about them xD**

**Even though my main focus is on Cuddy and 10 this is a Huddy story and Donna sure will get meantioned a few times as well.**

**In the House universe the fic is set after "Joy" and in the Who universe its set after the Doctor loses Donna.  
**

**Thanks a lot to Jane (LEfan77) for beta reading :D**

* * *

Great!

This was just what she needed! Another problem to take care of.

Like she didn't already have enough crap to deal with.

First Dr. Williams broke the new ultrasound scanner, then the head of the pharmacy informed her that the pharmaceutical company delivered the wrong meds and sent the meds they actually needed to Princeton Mercy and the cherry on top was that nurse Stella slipped on the urine of a patient which was on the floor due to a dripping catheter and broke her leg.

So she had figured out where to take money for a new ultrasound scanner from, she had informed Mercy and the pharmaceutical company about the wrong meds and had arranged it that the right meds would be delivered tomorrow and – after various phone calls – she had found a stand in for Stella.

Compared to all that, the problem she had now should be solved in a minute.

"Gordon?" She entered her outer office where her assistant had his desk.

He looked up from the computer and was face to face with his boss. "Yes, Dr. Cuddy?"

"Why is there a phone box standing in front of the hospital?"

"I beg your pardon?"

"There is a blue phone box standing in front of the hospital blocking the handicapped parking. I wanna know why."

"A phone box?" Gordon asked and looked at her as if she had gone nuts.

"Yes, indeed… a blue phone box… in the handicapped parking." She sounded a little annoyed.

"I'm sorry but I don't know anything about said phone box, Dr. Cuddy."

"Then this is probably another one of House's sick pranks to annoy me." She let out a sigh.

She hadn't seen or spoken to him all day. He had phoned her two times but she hadn't picked up. She had been too busy dealing with administrator stuff. Now he apparently felt left out and wanted to get her attention by playing a stupid, annoying prank on her.

"If you want to I can have it removed."

"Oh no. If he put this stupid phone box there than he will be the one to remove it again."

"Do you want me to call Dr. House and tell him to come down?"

"No, it's fine. I will take care of it myself." She said and made her way out of the office.

"I'd hide if I were House." Gordon thought to himself and grinned.

The House/Cuddy fights were the highlight of his day. It was like watching a romantic comedy when you know from the start that the two main characters will end up together eventually.

* * *

House was nowhere to be found.

Of course.

This was just another proof for her that it was indeed him who had put that phone box in front of the hospital.

Ever since they had kissed he had played one prank on her after another and as much as Cuddy wanted to deny it, in a weird way she kinda enjoyed it and at the same time she was also annoyed by it. Annoyed of the game they had played for 20 years now.

She could actually just head back into her office and continue solving all the problems that had appeared today and let someone else go and remove the box. It wouldn't be a big deal at all and it would save her a lot of time but she just was too curious.

House's pranks tended to be crazy, sometimes even insane but they were never boring.

Cuddy passed the nurses station in the entrance lobby and headed to the exit.

What purpose – other than annoying her – had this box? Did he pay a stripper or a male prostitute to hide inside? Or maybe House himself was hiding in there and was waiting for her to open up the door so he could scare the crap out of her?

When it came to House she just had to reckon with everything.

The air outside was cold. She wrapped her arms around herself as she approached the phone box.

She observed the item. It had something. It looked classy.

It had a sign on it that read: "Police Telephone. Free for use of public. Advice & assistance obtainable immediately. Officers & cars respond to all calls. Pull to open."

So she pulled. And pulled. And pulled. But nothing. She tried to push as well but the door obviously was locked.

Was this already it? The prank was just the phone box on the handicapped parking spot? Nothing else? Or did he expect her to break into the box? But he should know that she wouldn't do that.

She reached for the handgrip again and tried to pull the door open once more. But it was still closed.

So this really was it? This was the whole prank? There was nothing more to come? Really?

Cuddy was a little disappointed. She had expected more creativity from him.

She turned around to go back into the hospital to get someone to remove the box when she suddenly heard a noise.

It sounded like steps… coming from the box in front of her.

Before she could even realise what was going on, the door of the box opened up and she found herself in front of a thin but very handsome man.

He was dressed in a brown suit with white stripes. Beneath he was wearing a white shirt and a tie was tied around his neck.

"Hello." He said in a British accent with a goofy smile on his face.

"Hi." Cuddy said a little dumbfounded.

"Did you try to open up that door?" He wanted to know and pointed with his thumb over his shoulder to the box.

"Eh… Yes."

"Good… I thought those sticky Martian creatures followed me down here."

_"Martian creatures…" She laughed out. "… right. You should tell House that his pranks are getting old."_

_"Who is House?"_

_"Don't play that card on me… I know exactly what you are doing here."_

_"That's good because I actually have no clue why the TARDIS brought me here."_

_"TARDIS?" She raised an eyebrow and looked at him as if he was crazy._

_"Yeah... that's the beauty behind me." He said as if it was the most normal thing in the entire world that he named his phone box and that he was referring to it as "beauty"._

_"What did House pay you to say all this crap?"_

_"I don't know what you are talking about." _

_"Don't play dumb! I know he put you up to this!"_

_"Put me up to what?"_

_"To this! To put this stupid phone box in the handicapped parking and to annoy me with talk about sticky Martian creatures."_

_"I'm sorry did you just call my phone box 'stupid'?"_

_"Yes, I did."_

_"That's not very nice of you."_

_"It's not nice to take money to fool someone either."_

_"I'm think there might be a misunderstanding here."_

_"Oh really?" She said in a loud, annoyed voice that clearly showed that she didn't believe a word he said._

_"Yes... Or do you think that man you are talking about really put me up to this." He said as he opened up the door of his "TARDIS" and stepped to the side so the furious, pretty lady can take a look inside the box._

_Cuddy removed her eyes from the man and looked inside._

_As soon as her brain realized what her eyes were looking at her mouth fell open._

_THIS. COULD. NOT. BE. REAL... NO WAY COULD THIS BE REAL!_

_This was a trick... or a dream... It was the ONLY explanation for it!_

_"W... What?..." Was all Cuddy managed to say at this moment._

_"TARDIS is short for time and relative dimensions in space." The man explained. "She is my spaceship."_

_Cuddy couldn't tear her eyes away from what she saw. She couldn't believe it! This had to be a trick!_

_She made a step forward and tentatively entered the box. She outstretched her arm but the walls were meters away. _

_She turned around, outstretched her arm again and met nothing but air._

_How was this possible?! How could a phone box be bigger on the inside?!_

"It's pretty cool, huh?" The man behind her said with a smile.

Cuddy turned to him. She was completely confused and overwhelmed. "Who the hell are you?!"

"I'm the Doctor." He reached out his right hand to shake hers. "And you?"

She completely ignored his question as well as his hand. "Doctor who?"

"Just the doctor."

"What doctor?! What's your specialty?"

"Aliens."

"Are you sure you are not a fugitive of the psych department?"

"If I were then you would be one as well... We both stand inside a phone box that's bigger on the inside, right?"

"This isn't real... It can't be real." She said it more to convince herself than to make an actual statement as she kept looking around.

"It is."

"It doesn't look like a space ship."

"How many space ships have you seen before?" He asked as he made his way over to the middle of the TARDIS.

With that he was right. What did she know about space ships? Well…one hour ago she thought she knew everything about them, namely that no space ships existed outside of movies and TV series.

"Prove it to me." Cuddy suddenly said. Her voice was much more confident now than just a few moments ago.

"What?"

"Nowadays you can do pretty much anything with technology… Prove to me that this is not some sort of new 3D stuff… Prove to me that this is a real space ship."

He looked at her and smiled. He liked this woman… She was cheeky… and witty. He loved witty. She reminded him a bit of Donna…

"Where do you wanna go?" His question was her answer.

She thought about it for a few moments. When an idea hit her she said: "Time and Relative dimensions in Space… This means this thing is some sort of a time machine, right?"

"She travels in time and space." He confirmed.

"Ok… Then I wanna go back to 1992… To Boston."

The man pressed a few buttons on "whatever the thing in the middle of the Tardis is called" and then turned to her. "Ready to go?"

She swallowed. She had no clue what she was doing. She should have left this weird box as soon as she had entered it… But despite all her doubts she answered with a pretty confident "yes" anyway.

His lips went up into a giant smile. He gripped a big switch and flipped it and shouted enthusiastically: "Allons-y!"

TBC

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**So? What do you think? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Any suggestions for improvement? You wanna read more? Your feedback is very much appreciated.**

**Have a great day :D  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey there guys! Thanks so much for your lovely reviews! So, so, soooo glad you like the story :)  
**

**Gonna give you a little summary about Doctor Who since some of you don't really know the series: The Doctor is a time lord, an alien. He travels through time and space in his phone box and he usually has to save the world or other planets from bad people or aliens. The Docotor doesn't die, instead he regenerates. And when he regenerates he changes his body and his personality, in this story he is in his 10th body. He mostly travels with a (female) companion. In the story he just had to part with his (in my opinion best) companion Donna. In the end of the summary I ****recommend you to start watching it. Especially the epis with the 10th doc are epic! And the 11th doc is great and hilarious as well! It's totally worth to give it a try :)**

******Gonna shut up now and let you read ;D  
**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

"What's that?!" Cuddy wanted to know. Her voice had a slight panicky undertone.

"What's what?" The Doctor asked.

"That noise!"

"That's the TARDIS."

"Sounds like its gonna explode."

"Don't worry. It always makes that sound." He said while flipping a few switches. He then turned to her. "You still haven't told me your name."

"You haven't told me yours, either."

"I have."

"Were you seriously thinking that I'd believe that you are called 'The Doctor'."

"Yes."

"So there is 'The Doctor' written on your ID?"

"I have no ID. Just some magic paper."

"Everyone has an ID."

"I'm not everyone."

"Then who are you?"

"I'm a time lord."

"Sounds very… ehm… unrealistic."

"Can I remind you of the fact that you are currently traveling through time and space with me."

"I'm not believing anything until I'm standing in front of my old house in Boston."

"Well... then I'd take a look outside." The Doctor said as he switched something that looked an awful lot like a hand gear.

Cuddy looked at him suspiciously and he just indicated with his head that she should go ahead.

She turned around and slowly approached the door. She was sure that they were still in front of the hospital. The box had moved – she had felt that – but this could just have been some kind of special effect or something like that.

She laid her hand on the knob and took a deep breath before she pushed open the door.

She almost fainted when she found herself on a huge grassland.

THIS. WAS. NOT. POSSIBLE.

THIS. COULDN'T. BE. POSSIBLE.

"Are you alright?"

She jumped as she realized that the Doctor was standing directly behind her.

"I… I don't know." She was totally confused, totally baffled. This was just too much to process.** "**This is just… unbelievable."

He pushed past Cuddy and exited the Tardis. "Come on!" He shouted with a smile on his face as he held out his hand for the woman to take.

She was skeptical. The man made a very confiding impression but could she really trust him?

Did she even have another choice but to trust him?

Tentatively Cuddy took his warm hand and his fingers went around hers. It felt nice.

She took a few steps and suddenly she was on the meadow as well. She looked around and saw a little village that had to be a bit less than half a mile away.

"This doesn't look like Boston." She stated.

"It doesn't look like 1992 either." The doctor said with a slightly worried undertone.

"Don't tell me that we got lost." Cuddy ripped her hand out of his hold.

"We aren't lost. We have the Tardis."

"Then lets go in there and go back."

"Aren't you curious? Don't you wanna know where we are?"

"No." She lied.

"But I am." The doctor announced with the usual enthusiastic smile on his face and started walking towards the village.

She followed him. What else should she do? She didn't know where she was, she didn't know what year it was and she didn't know how the hell to get back. She needed him. She wouldn't tear her eyes away from that guy!

* * *

"Are we in the fifties?" Cuddy asked quite puzzled as they passed the first house of the village.

"I'd say mid sixties. This Chevy Chevelle came on the market in 1966." He nodded towards a car.

"You know it all, don't you?" She crossed her arms in front of her chest. The Doctor was reminding her a lot of House. Their personality and their character were totally different but both were incredibly smart… and handsome.

"You have a pretty advanced general knowledge once you are 900 years old."

"You are kidding."

"Was I kidding when I said that my phone box was a spaceship?"

No he hadn't been kidding. She had no reason not to believe him. Not after she just had travelled trough time and space with him.

"You look pretty good for someone who actually should have died more than 800 years ago."

"Thanks… Many people say that my tenth body is the prettiest."

"What?!"

"Nothing." He had confused her enough for one day. "Let's check out the neighborhood!" He then exclaimed and walk towards one of the houses.

"What are you doing?!"

"Finding out where we are and what year it is."

"People will think you are nuts." She followed him to the house.

"Wouldn't be the first time." He said and knocked.

It didn't take long until an overweight man with a pipe in his mouth opened up the front door.

"Hello." The Doctor said in his almost too adorable British accent. "I'm the Doctor and this is…"

"Cuddy. Dr. Lisa Cuddy." She finally said.

He smiled at her. It was almost as if he thanked her for finally revealing her name.

The Doctor focused his eyes on the man again. "Would you mind telling us where we are right now? And what year it is?"

The man looked at the two weird persons in front of him as if they were completely crazy.

"We are just asking this out of medical purposes. We are working on a survey." Was the only thing Cuddy could come up with to show the guy that they weren't just some lunatics.

"What crazy survey is this?"

"One about Inamrinone _and _thrombocytopenia." Was her quick-witted reply.

The man fortunately had no clue what she just had said but - or porbably especially because of that - bought the survey-lie anyway. Those medical terms the lady had said sounded professional enough to convince him.

"We are in Fairview, Kentucky. It's Sunday, 23rd June 1968." The man was clearly annoyed.

"Thanks a lot for your participation." Cuddy said in her professional Dean of Medicine voice.

The man went back inside and shut the door closed in their faces while the Doctor was busy being pretty amazed by one Lisa Cuddy. She was one hell of a lady. She was not afraid to speak her mind, quick at repartee and smart.

Very much like Donna… His Donna Noble…

He swallowed the lump in his throat, turned to the lovely lady next to him and said: "So, Miss Lisa Cuddy... You are a doctor?"

"Yes, a real one. With a real title and without a spaceship."

The Doctor couldn't help but smile again. He could totally imagine Lisa Cuddy to be his new companion.

He was about to say something in return when they suddenly heard a loud, angry voice.

Both of them turned around and were looking at a tall man standing on the porch of the house on the opposite side of the street.

He was shouting at someone.

Cuddy didn't consider long before she crossed the street and slowly made a few steps towards the man. She recognised a little boy standing behind him. A little, frightened boy.

"I didn't raise you to be a loser!" The man shouted at him. "You are a goof-off! You should be ashamed of yourself!"

She took a few more steps until she wasn't far away form the man anymore. And this was when she finally got it, when she finally realised.

This wasn't just some man shouting at his poor kid. This was no one else but John House putting down his little son, Greg.

TBC

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**Thanks a lot to Jane (LEfan77) for beta reading. :)**


	3. Chapter 3

**There is apparently not so much interesst in this story but I have just too much fun writing it to stop. ;)  
**

**Thanks for your review Inês and thanks to everyone else who read the last chapter.  
**

**Hugs to Jane for beta reading :D  
**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

She was taken back. She couldn't believe this was really happening.

This little boy in front of her really was House… Her House. Little House.

This was when it finally sunk in for real: They had indeed traveled back in time.

She was abruptly yanked away from her thoughts when the man slapped the little boy on his cheek.

"Hey!" Cuddy shouted. "What do you think you are doing?!"

The man turned around. An angry expression was on his face. "Keep your nose in your own business!"

"Lisa." The Doctor's voice was very calm but firm at the same time. "You have to leave them alone."

"He is hitting the kid!" Cuddy shouted indignantly. How the hell can the Doctor tell her to just let it go and leave?!

"I'm disciplining him!" John corrected her.

The Doctor was now beside Cuddy, tugging on her arm, whispering: "The more we meddle, the worse it is… The entire history could get changed."

She looked at him surprised and a little confused. "What?"

"We are not supposed to be here… This was not supposed to happen. When we change the past then the future will get changed too. The entire world could change!"

Cuddy got it. You can't change the past without changing the future. But how the hell was she supposed to just stand by and let John hit House?

She looked at the little, frightened boy. She would love to give him a hug, to tell him that in the end it is gonna be ok… But she couldn't. She wasn't allowed to.

He looked up and focused his eyes on her. The blue of his eyes made her shiver.

"Go in the house and help your mom with the cleaning!" She heard John command.

Little Greg obeyed immediately.

The Doctor was again pulling on Cuddy's arm to indicate to her that they really should leave but she didn't move. She was too stubborn. "_Just like Donna_", he thought.

"You are a horrible person, John." Cuddy's voice was filled with detestation.

It was hard to say if John or the Doctor was more surprised about the fact that she seemed to know who he was.

"Who the hell are you!?" John wanted to know.

"That's not important." Cuddy said. "I know who YOU are and I know that your son is going to resent you for what you are doing to him!"

"How dare you say something like that!" John shouted angrily at Cuddy.

"Lisa… You have to stop!" The Doctor said again. His voice was a lot firmer now.

"I told you I wanted to go to Boston but your weird spaceship brought us here… Now you can't expect me to stand by and watch how he abuses his kid!"

"But that's what we have to do! Everything that happens here already happened. The future is built on these events. The more we change what happened, the more the future will change!"

The way he explained stuff was fascinating. It seemed like he knew it all. Like he knew all the secrets of life, the secrets of the world, of the universe.

"I want you to leave my property!" John seemed to get more and more furious with each passing second.

"No reason to shout, Mr. We will leave." The Doctor assured.

He took Cuddy's hand and dragged her away. She let him. It was the only rational thing to do. If she stayed she probably would say or do something that would change things and she just can't risk changing history.

After the doctor and her had gone a few steps she turned back around. She saw the little boy looking at her through the window.

She smiled at him apologetically and encouraging at the same time.

He smiled back.

God, she so wished she could do something to help the kid. To help House.

* * *

He had to press doorbell five times until House finally opened up.

"If Cuddy sent you, you can leave again. I don't have a case and my team does my clinic duty. Everything is taken care of." House said without a greeting.

"Cuddy didn't send me… But she is the reason why I'm here."

House groaned. Not again. "Can't you just let it go? We kissed… we talked about it and we moved on… Time for you to move on as well, Jimmy."

Wilson ignored what he said. "Is she here?"

"Who?"

"Cuddy."

"I think you got something wrong, Wilson: I'm hiding from her not hanging out with her."

"No one has seen her in 5 hours… Her assistant said that she wanted to look for you."

"OK… you got me… She's here… We spent the last five hours having wild monkey sex. She is currently handcuffed to my bed."

"This is not funny, House… Her car keys as well as her phone and her purse are still in her office… Just tell me if she had been here!" The worried expression on Wilson's face scared him a little.

"No… She hasn't been here."

"It's not normal that she just leaves work without telling anyone…"

"Have you checked her home?" House asked. A weird feeling that felt an awful lot like concern was spreading in his chest area.

His friend nodded. "She's not there. No one opened up."

House turned around to grip his jacket and his keys before he closed the door behind him.

"What are you doing?" Wilson wanted to know.

"Looking for her." He said like it was the most obvious thing in the entire world.

* * *

"Who was this man?" The Doctor asked as soon as they were far enough away from the house.

Cuddy sighed. "John House."

"The House you thought I was working with?"

She shook her head no. "His father… The little boy was… is House."

"Oh…"

"I'm sorry for meddling in but I couldn't just stand by watching and not do anything…"

"This House… Are you friends with him?"

"Yes."

"When you talked about him earlier I didn't really get the impression that you like him."

"It's complicated…" Cuddy sighed. "… really, really complicated."

"I love complicated." The Doctor said and smiled.

He wanted to hear the entire story.

TBC...

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**Thanks for reading :) I know the chapters are kinda short but if you want longer chapters it will take me a lot longer to upload.**

** If you have a minute, I really would appreciate some feedback. ;)**

**Have a lovely week. :D**


	4. Chapter 4

**Hello there! I am back! I'm really sorry for letting you wait so long, life was - as usual - crazy ;D**

**I wanna thank all of you for reading and special thanks to anyone who has reviewed and special, special thanks to Lauren because her review rocked and cheered me on to write this chapter. And btw Lauren: We wouldn't be the only ones who'd love to see Lisa and David on screen together :D I know a few more people who'd so love to see that happening... so lets cross our fingers. :D**

**Many hugs go to Jane for beta reading despite being sick. We women are clearly strong creatures :D**

**And one more thing before you start reading: I'm gonna change my username to "CUDDYownsPPTH". Just so you know :)**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

_"This House… Are you friends with him?"_

_"Yes."_

_"When you talked about him earlier I didn't really get the impression that you like him."_

_"It's complicated…" Cuddy sighed. "… really, really complicated."_

_"I love complicated." The Doctor said and smiled._

_He wanted to hear the entire story._

* * *

At first it seemed a little weird to tell him about THEM… She had just met him a few hours ago and he was a freaking alien that travels the universe in a fucking box! But somehow she trusted him. She had no clue why but he just had something likeable, something that made her think that he was faithful.

And so she told him.

She told him about the first time she and House met in med school, about their night together, about him running away afterwards, about his infarction, their complicated working relationship and about their non-stop bickering and arguing. She told him about her failed IVFs and about how sad she was afterwards. She also told him about making the decision to adopt and about getting disappointed once more.

"I was crushed when the girl told me that she was keeping the baby. I already had everything prepared. I had a completely furnished room for her, I had a name, tons of clothes and toys." It was hard for her to talk about it. The pain was still there and so was the longing for a child.

She swallowed the lump in her throat and continued. "I took the day off from work and went home… and then he was suddenly standing in front of my door. I thought he wanted to rub it in my face, I thought he wanted to tell me once again that it was better that way because I would suck as a mother anyway… but he didn't. He told me that I'd have been a great mom. I shouted at him for constantly negating everything… and suddenly we were kissing… He left right after that…. I wanted to talk to him about the kiss but every time I try to have a serious conversation with him he deflects or claims that he's busy. But he obviously isn't busy enough since he finds plenty of time to play pranks on me."

They were sitting on a tree trunk not far away from the Tardis.

"I'm over 900 years old and I met thousands of species that are totally different form each other but one thing they all do have in common."

Cuddy was a little confused. What exactly did this have to do with her story? But she asked anyway. "Namely?"

"They all act absolutely stupid when they are in love."

"What do you want to insinuate with that?" Cuddy perked her eyebrows and looked at him, waiting for him to explain what exactly he was talking about.

"He's in love with you." The Doctor simply stated.

"What?!"

"He is in love with you." He said once again.

Cuddy chuckled and clarified: "He is attracted to me, yes… He likes my body but that's it. I'm not the kind of woman House is into."

"You humans sometimes don't see the most obvious things."

"You know me for about 3 hours and you haven't even met the adult version of House… Do you really think you can see right through us?"

"Yes. I have heard your story."

"Are you suddenly are a psychiatrist, too?"

"Well… I did help Freud create the psychoanalysis but I'm not sure if this makes me a psychiatrist."

"You are kidding, right?"

"Nope."

"So you met Freud?" She wasn't sure if she really should believe him.

"Yes… Interesting guy… but he smoked like a steam engine…"

Cuddy chuckled.

"But back to the topic." The Doctor then said. "So… you and House…"

Cuddy cut him off: "Why don't you tell me something about you? I've told you my entire life story… You owe me some of your stories."

She was actually right, so he asked: "What do you wanna know?"

"Do you always travel alone?"

"No… Until recently I had a mate… Her name was Donna."

"Why 'was'?" Cuddy had a concerned facial expression. "…What happened to her? She isn't dead, is she?"

"No. She is fine… " The Doctor said, swallowed and added. "I had to leave her behind for her own safety… I had to delete all her memories of the time she had with me. She can't ever know."

"You deleted her memories? How do you even do that?!" Cuddy had an indignant undertone in her voice.

"I have the ability to delete certain things in a persons memory if it is necessary for their safety. And it was necessary. She would have died otherwise."

Cuddy seemed to accept the explanation. She then asked: "Was she human?"

He nodded. "One of the kindest I have ever met."

"Can't you just pop back in time and change things? Change whatever happened that had made it necessary to delete her memories?"

"I can't go back in my own timeline… And even if I could… I wouldn't be able to change anything. Not without making everything even worse."

"What's the whole point of time travelling when you can't go back and fix things?"

"You can… but just things that need to be fixed for the universe's sake, not for my sake."

"So technically you are some sort of employee of the universe?"

He thought about it for a second and was about to disagree when he realized that she actually was right. "Yeah…"

"And what do you get out of it for you? What is your salary?"

"I can discover new planets and new races. I can visit all galaxies that exist."

"Don't you ever get sick of it? Sick of the never ending travelling?"

"Of the travelling no… of travelling alone yes."

"Then you need to find someone new who travels with you."

"I'm not sure if I want to."

She looked at him confused.

"No one can be with me forever… I'm gonna lose them eventually… and losing them is worse than not having them in the first place."

She could understand. More than understand actually. It had been the same with Joy. For a blink of an eye she had been her mother. She had been hers. And then she had lost her. And it had hurt… it had hurt so much… more than it would have hurt not to have had her at all.

* * *

She was nowhere to be found. Nowhere.

He checked her house, the place she had her yoga lessons at, her jogging path and every inch of the hospital.

But there was no trace of Cuddy.

"We should call the police." Wilson said.

"She isn't gone long enough… They wont look for her before she's missing for 24 hours."

"Then what do we do? It's obvious that something's wrong… She never just disappears."

"Of course something is wrong!" House hissed.

"Lets look at her house again." Wilson put his hand on House's shoulder. He could imagine how House felt right now. He cared about Cuddy a great deal and he knew that House was ready to do everything in order to make sure that she's safe.

* * *

Cuddy and the Doctor had checked out the village a little more before they went back to the Tardis. The Doctor wanted to try again to take them to 1992 before he took Lisa back to her time so she could carry on with her life.

They made their way towards the blue box when someone suddenly shot ahead of them.

It was the little boy. Little House.

There were traces of tears on his cheeks and Cuddy once again had the urge to hug him.

"Hey." She said and smiled.

He didn't say anything. He just outstretched his arm towards her. There were some flowers in his hand. Flowers he probably had picked in his mother's garden.

Cuddy's heart melted. Tears were forming in her eyes.

She swallowed and took the flowers. "Thank you." She whispered.

Little House smiled at her.

Then he ran off.

Cuddy looked at the Doctor. Her eyes asking him, begging him if she could tell the kid something or if she would meddle with time again if she did.

Thankfully the Doctor just nodded.

"Greg!" She then shouted.

He stopped running und turned around again, facing her.

Cuddy made a few steps towards him. "Everything's gonna be okay." She then said and gave him a big smile.

He smiled back.

They looked at each other for a few more moments until he ran off again.

Cuddy watched him until he was out of sight.

She let out a sigh and looked at the beautiful flowers little House had given her. A tear was rolling down her cheek. "I wish I could help him." She whispered.

"You did." The Doctor said. "You gave him hope."

TBC

* * *

**Thanks so, so much for reading :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! **

**So sorry that I didn't upload in such a long time... but I was kinda stuck with this as well as with my other more chapter story. **

**But now I'm finally done with a new chapter. Thanks a lot to LEfan77 for beta reading :D  
**

**Enjoy reading!**

* * *

**Chapter 5**

She watched in awe as the doctor danced around the control console of the Tardis pressing all kind of buttons, flipping switches and gears and even hitting one part of the console with a hammer.

"This has to be the most complicated vehicle I've ever seen." Cuddy said.

"Shhh… She might hear you… and believe me: you don't wanna fly around the universe with an offended Tardis."

Cuddy's brows went up. "What?"

"She's alive."

"The Tardis?"

"Yeah."

"So she is some kind of alien as well?"

"It's more complicated than that. But all you need to know is that she's got a mind of her own." The doctor was finally done with navigating the Tardis and turned to Cuddy.

"What vehicle doesn't?" She said.

Cuddy looked at him questionably when the Tardis suddenly stopped moving. "Is this her being offended? She stops moving and we are lost somewhere in the universe?"

"Nope this is arrival."

"We are already back home?"

"Well… not quite." The doctor said and indicated for her to go ahead outside.

Cuddy didn't hesitate for long, she went to the door and opened it.

She immediately noticed where they were. In Boston. Directly in front of her old home.

"Oh my God." She whispered.

"You wanted to go to Boston and here we are… It's 1991, I actually wanted the Tardis to got to 1992… but well... close enough."

She almost didn't hear what he was saying since she was already out of the Tardis, checking out the street she had once lived in.

The doctor followed her outside. He wasn't going to let her out of his sight. The chance she'd meddle again was too big.

"I haven't been here for ages." Cuddy said with a big smile on her face. "I totally forgot how much I loved to live here."

As they got closer to the beautiful white house that used to be Cuddy's home music could be heard.

From the garden gate in front of the house they could glimpse into the backyard and saw people dancing, laughing, drinking and eating.

"That's my 23rd birthday." Cuddy whispered.

"Come on." The doctor said and took her hand. "Let's take a closer look."

"What if they see us?"

"We'll make sure they won't."

* * *

"So you are telling me she disappeared 10 hours ago and you want me to send out a search party?" The officer was trying hard to suppress a laugh.

"Yes."

"Isn't it possible that she just disappeared because you had some sort of argument?"

"No. She never just disappears… Especially not without her blackberry and her purse."

"Sir, I understand that you are worried but we can't do anything until she is gone for at last 24 hours."

"Listen to me." House's voice was dead serious. "She is the dean of a hospital and she disappeared in the middle of a working day… Her phone and her purse are still in her office. Her assistant has no clue where she is and her car is still in her parking spot. Something is wrong and if you don't fucking start looking for her right now I'm gonna shove this…" He lifted his cane up in the air so the officer could see it. "… up your ass!"

"Are you threatening me, Dr. House? You are aware that I can arrest your for threatening a civil servant on duty, right?"

"He is..." Wilson said who just had come in the door. He shouldn't have let House go ahead while he had parked the car. "I'm sorry officer for whatever he did, but you have to excuse him... we are very worried and it pulls on our nerve strings."

"This still is no reason to threaten me."

"I know... that was wrong. He is sorry." Wilson said and then looked at House. His eyes telling him he should apologize.

House was about to say how "not sorry at all" he was, when he changed his mind... He needed to keep looking for Cuddy, he couldn't do that if he was in jail. So he choked down his pride and gave the officer a short nod. That's all he's gonna get. An "I'm sorry" was out of question.

The officer seemed to accept the nod.

House then turned to Wilson and said: "He won't help us."

"I can't." The officer clarified.

"Then we have to keep looking on our own." Wilson said.

House looked at the officer with a gaze that – could gazes kill – definitely would have killed him. Then he said to Wilson: "Lets get outta here."

* * *

"If Mrs. Murphy sees us she'll call the police." Cuddy said as she followed the doctor through the garden of one of her former neighbors.

"Before the police arrive we will already be in the Tardis and in another century."

"Lets hope so." Cuddy had never liked Mrs. Murphy. She was a mean, old lady who had taken away her doll when she had been little. And even though she was over 40 now, she still feared her ... at least in some way.

The doctor found a relatively big hole in the fence so they could both peek through into the garden of Cuddy's former home.

He dropped down on the ground, she sat down next to him. They looked through the hole into the other garden and observed younger Cuddy and her family.

"I can't believe it." She whispered as soon as she caught sight of the exact party she had celebrated almost 20 years ago.

"Is that your Dad you're are dancing with?" The doctor asked after a few seconds.

"Oh my God." Her hand went to her mouth, tears formed in her eyes. "Yes... that's him."

She was overwhelmed. Completely and totally overwhelmed. After more than 10 years she saw her Dad again. Her Dad who she had been so close to. Her Dad who she had missed so much.

Her younger self was laughing about something her Dad had just said and this made the older Cuddy laugh through her tears. "He was always so funny."

The doctor put his hand on her shoulder, she gripped it, looked at him and whispered: "Thank you."

* * *

"What a jackass", House said as soon as they sat in Wilson's car.

"You said yourself that they couldn't do anything until she's gone for at least 24 hours. So I really don't get why you threatened that officer."

"She left all her stuff behind… that is a sign that she didn't disappear voluntarily!"

"It obviously isn't… The guy knows what he is doing, House."

"But he doesn't know Cuddy… And there is no way in hell she just needed some time off and disappeared. No way!"

"I know." Wilson said and sighed.

He was getting more and more worried with every passing minute.

* * *

Cuddy and the doctor were still in Mrs. Murphy's garden, still observing the party.

Every now and then fresh tears started to roll down Cuddy's cheek. She couldn't describe how thankful she was that she had the chance to see her Dad one more time.

It was far too early for her when the doctor told her that they had to leave. The risk that someone would see them if they stayed too long was too high.

She looked at her Dad and for a moment she thought he was looking straight back at her, smiling at her. She smiled back, even though she knew it wasn't possible that he had seen her. If he had he would have come over and asked them what they were doing.

"We really need to go." The doctor said after Cuddy still wasn't able to tear her eyes away from her father.

"Ok." She said, looked at her Dad one last time, whispered something that sounded and awful lot like "I love you" and then she got up and followed the doctor out of the garden.

"Are you alright?" The doctor asked as they were on the sidewalk, next to the street again.

"yeah…" Cuddy said wiping her cheeks to get rid of her last tears. "I'm just… I'm just so glad that I saw him and at the same time I'm sad because I know that that was the very last time for good."

"The universe is full of possibilities… Nothing is for good."

"Only a few hours ago I'd have said that you were crazy for telling me that."

"And now?"

"Now I know better." She smiled.

He smiled back but then his face suddenly changed into a curious expression.

"What's going on?" Cuddy wanted to know.

"We were obviously not the only ones who spied on your family." The Doctor said and pointed at a young man who was standing at the spot they had earlier been at and looked into the backyard.

Cuddy looked at the man and almost had a heart attack. She blinked a few times, maybe she was just seeing ghosts… But no… She wasn't.

This man in front of her old house looking into the backyard was HIM.

"Oh my God."

"What?!" The Doctor asked.

"This is House." Cuddy was puzzled.

"THE House?!

"Yes…"

"Didn't you say you two had no contact after he left Michigan med school in 1989?"

"We didn't…"

"Lets go on the other side of the street. We don't need him to recognize you."

They crossed the street and continued watching House watching her younger self and her family.

"I can't believe he's here… " Cuddy said.

House bent down and placed a sunflower right in front of the garden gate.

"Oh my God ... House put that flower there!" Cuddy shouted almost too loudly.

"Now I know why we ended up in 1991 instead of 1992."

"Why?"

"Because the universe wanted you to see this."

They kept watching House as he looked one last time into the back yard before he went back to his car and drove off.

"And all this time I thought that flower was from the neighbor kid I used to babysit… he had a total crush on me."

"You were obviously wrong when you said that your night back in med school didn't mean anything to him."

"I would love to run inside the backyard and tell myself what just happened… I was still head over heels in love with him back then."

"Well... That never really changed, did it?"

She smiled and finally admitted. "No… that never really changed."

**TBC**

* * *

**yeah... I know... Boston... this is a coincidence. Sending my prayers to everyone involved in the tragedy. So terrible ):** **Thanks for reading.**


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